Source Of Strength
by harmonized
Summary: In which Mariah's understanding nature and soft smile are enough to get him through the toughest days.


**A/N**

 _I found this little piece on my drafts and thought to publish it here too. Make sure to let me know what you think!_

 **DISCLAIMER**

 _All characters belong to Takao Aoki_

* * *

 **HER PULSE IS** accelerating as the rain grows stronger. Gladly there are no hints of wind, only humidity clunging to her skin but she is far more concerned with Ray's absence from the house.

"He's not gonna come back anytime soon Mariah," Lee's voice causes her to spin on her heel to face him.

She pushes a strand of pink hair behind her ear, trying to convince herself that Ray will return in the nick of time. "He has to Lee. It's raining so hard, I doubt he'll be able to concentrate."

"You know Ray, Mariah. He won't do anything less than endless hours of practice for the upcoming World Championship. He has to make sure that White Tiger X will make it to the finals."

"I know," she says mildly irritated before sighing, giving up on all of her hopes of Ray walking through the door any minute soon. "And I understand that he carries the weight of being a perfect leader for his team, I just wish he could get some rest though."

Lee walks behind her, rubbing her shoulders gently to comfort her. "Don't worry. He's going to be fine."

Mariah nods firmly in response. Her faith in Ray crawls slowly back to her and Lee's words awaken her consciousness. Ray will be back before she even has the chance to blink, he will gain the necessary amount of energy he needs from the salad she's going to make for him and when the tournament begins, White Tiger X will rise to the top of the world.

The sound of pottery falling on the floor curls her lips into a frown and she dashes out of the room with Lee next to her, straight to the kitchen. Both her and Lee gasp as their eyes wonder from one corner of the kitchen to the other, the mess that's created huge.

"Gary hurry! They might suspect something's wrong!" Kevin rushes thoroughly stressed out to the drawers near the stoves, searching frantically for a towel to wipe the water from them. As long as Mariah is out of sight, he might actually get away with this one.

The clearing of Mariah's throat causes him to jump and drop the towel from his hands, a horrified expression on his features as he takes notice her silence, and neither Gary nor him and Lee consider it as a good sign.

Despite that anger isn't rooted in Mariah's nature, there are those few times in which she makes her exceptions, and Kevin prays for this to not be one them.

Gary on the other hand is calm compared to Kevin's nervousness. He just waits for Mariah to make her move, clueless on what to expect.

Mariah sighes deeply and opens her mouth to speak but Kevin's words rush out of his mouth in the speed of lightining. "Gary made me do it," he points his index finger to Gary accusingly, the latter groaning exasperated whilst shaking his head.

She hurries to the oven and stares at the burned chocolate cake she had baked with so much love for them, especially for Ray. She was anticipating his reaction, one of approval she wished until now. Probably some things don't turn out the way you'd like them to.

However, the more she stares at the cake, the more anger grows within her. She isn't the girl who will usually yell, but she isn't one to hide indignance either. "Kevin I told you to stay away from the kitchen until the cake is ready!"

"I know Mariah and I'm so sorry but this guy here," Kevin points to his stomach, "couldn't wait any longer."

She places her hands on her hips like a mother trying to put some order to her undisciplined children. "Okay but since the cake is ruined, you'll have to be content with something much simpler for dinner."

The three boys nod simultaneously and join Mariah to the cleaning. After thirty minutes, Kevin pulls a chair from the table behind and slumps on it, leaning his head back. "Man, I never thought being a girl requires this much work!"

Mariah walks over to the fridge, filling joyfully her arms with tomatoes, lettuce and other vegetables for a salad. Even though her original plan didn't go as expected, a salad can be an ideal solution too. She occupies herself with the task of preparing it and Lee unburies his head from the table to see what she's up to.

"I guess you always know what to do, don't you Mariah?" He smiles weakly at her. Today's training schedule was demanding and to say he's exhausted is a tiny speck to his overal decline. The thought of his comfy bed waiting for him has never felt such a great idea. The only remaining thing he has to do is to calm down his apetite.

"Of course Lee! I wouldn't leave any of you to sleep without your stomachs full." She prepares the plates with the salad and the utensils for them, her bright smile never missing from her lips.

The front door closes and Mariah smiles in relief. She's done with serving the salad to the boys and runs happy to welcome Ray back home.

"Ray you're finally here!" Mariah exclaims, but her smiles wavers when she sees how every inch of Ray's skin is drenched from the downpour.

He does nothing but gaze at her intently and Mariah assumes it's because of the rain and all the training he had. She doesn't waste any time and heads to the bathroom for a towel so he can dry off. She returns shortly and hands it to him, worried he might catch a cold even though it's summer.

"Are you okay Ray? You might catch a cold if you keep training in the rain. Do you want me to bring another towel?" She asks one question after the other as Ray continues to wipe his face and squeeze his hair with the towel to remove as much water as he can.

"I'm okay Mariah." He gives her a soft smile. "Really."

Ray notices the comfortable silence in the house, something rare since Kevin and Gary are always the voices he hears when he returns home. He tilts his brows with amusement as he asks, "where's everybody else?"

"In their rooms, sleeping. Today's training exhausted them a lot." Mariah responds as Ray kicks his shoes off and places them to the floor in a corner. He follows silently Mariah to the kitchen, seating himself on the table.

"Aren't you exhausted?" Ray asks, intrigued by the fact it's close to midnight and she's still awake, looking energetic as ever.

She strides over to the fridge as she turns her head to answer him. "I can't say I'm not tired, but you have to eat dinner too _and_ get some rest."

Mariah opens the fridge and disillusionment flickers over her eyes as she sees the spot in which she left salad for Ray empty. First the cake, now that.

Those guys and their appetite.

She doesn't mind it though.

"Is everything alright?" Ray's conerned tone makes a smile to bloom on her lips as she grabs the vegetables left to make him another.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll make you a new one."

"Huh?" Ray's brows furrow with confusion, clueless on what Mariah's reffering to.

She's about to slice the tomato but puts the knife down, sighing deeply. "I baked a chocolate cake for dinner, but apparently Kevin couldn't wait until it was ready, so him and Gary messed the kitchen up as they tried to cook something and probably they somehow changed the temperatures to the oven too. The cake was burned when Lee and I came in and I'm really disappointed none of you guys could have a taste of it, especially you Ray since you need all the energy you can get."

If it wasn't for his exhaustion, he'd already be on his feet and give her one of his bear hugs. But he limits himself to words. "That's very sweet of you Mariah," he smiles briefly. "Don't worry. I'm sure there will be another time. I'll be waiting for it." He winks at her.

Mariah returns back to preparing his salad after nodding. "How's training?" She asks when she finishes and takes the seat across him.

"Exhausting. But definitely worth it." He says and starts with the lettuce of the salad, a pleasant taste in his mouth just as he likes it.

"You seem unsure though," she remarks.

Ray falls silent and Mariah decides to continue her thoughts. "Does it have to do with your blading skills?"

He twirls the fork in the bowl, resting his head in his curled fingers. "No, it's not that anymore. I'm worried about the guys, the team, how Tyson and Kai will be since Max and I left the Bladebreakers. Sometimes I still believe Tyson might hold it against me."

"Tyson will be fine with that competitive spirit of his. Same goes to Kai. I'm sure they'll make it through the preliminaries."

Ray doesn't speak and Mariah adds, "And I'm sure none of them will hold it against you. No matter what happens, you guys will always be friends. Plus, it's a good thing that you can test your own skills and abilities by competing against your teammates."

"How come you didn't say former?" Ray asks curiously.

Mariah smiles at him wholeheartedly. "Because when all of you are together, you still are the Bladebreakers."

Ray puts the bowl in the sink before sitting again. "Thanks Mariah."

A perplexed expression takes over her features. "For what?"

"For listening. I really needed to get that out of my chest."

"Feels nice, doesn't it?" Mariah smirks lightly.

"Mm," he hums, feelings his eyes too heavy to keep open in all of a sudden.

Mariah stands up and heads to the sink to wash his bowl. "Go to sleep Ray. You need to rest since tomorrow you'll need much more strength than today."

He nods and exits the kitchen eventually, a soft smile on his lips.

Little does she know that she's his source of strength through the rough times.


End file.
